Mark L. Hopkins: Resolving conflict in government

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Oct 30, 2017 at 9:27 AMOct 30, 2017 at 9:27 AM

Mark L. Hopkins More Content Now

Amy-Jill Levine, an Orthodox Jew and Professor of Religion at Vanderbilt University, opened a recent presentation on Conflict with the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son. She used the scripture, “And a certain man had two sons.” She then looked out at the audience and said, “Every Jew knows that is a formula for trouble.” Everyone laughed.

We could say the same thing about almost any human interaction. Where there are two people, or two groups, involved there is potential for disagreement and trouble. Any time people are involved, conflict is innate.

We are currently involved with major conflicts at the highest levels of government in Washington D.C. If it isn’t the Republicans and Democrats in conflict with each other, it is the president in conflict with both. The extreme elements of our two dominant political parties are strongly resistant to any significant compromise so that progress can be made for the government and the country.

The conflicts may be political but, in many respects, they have the outward appearance of a religious conflict. The opposite sides in the conflict, the liberals and the conservatives, believe so strongly that they are right in their positions that they cannot give an inch. Because of the polarization of their different perspectives neither side feels they can negotiate from their positions without running the risk of compromising their political principles.

The Republicans won the November elections and currently control the House and the Senate as well as the presidency. In short, they control both the legislative and the executive branches of government and have appointment power to the Supreme Court.

The Democrats see weakness in the inability of the Republican establishment to switch from opposition party mentality to that of a governing party. In short, it seems that everything Republicans try to do runs afoul of the courts, the news media, or special interest groups within their own party. That motivates the Democrats to resist the governance of the Republican establishment and to give hope for a turn-a-round in the mid-term elections which are still more than a year away.

So, how does one resolve a disagreement where the foundation beliefs of two groups place them squarely in a position of conflict? We can’t resolve our conflicts like King David in the Old Testament battling the giant, Goliath, nor can we “cut the baby in half” as King Solomon threatened to do. As it currently appears, the leadership of both political parties and our president seem content to continue to fight over governmental control while we watch our infrastructure, economy, military security, influence in the world, etc. go down the drain? What shall we do about two political parties and a president who seem to care more about posturing for the public than they do about the future of the country?

The secret to dealing with diametrically opposed forces within an organization can be found in our management textbooks and has been used over and over to allow organizations to function in the face of significant conflict. Our president has talked often about applying business principles to government. Here is one place where a good business planning approach should work.

Business management gurus tell us that when a planning model is put in place it gives competing elements the opportunity to input their perspectives into the process giving them “buy-in” to the end result. Veteran managers know that organizational conflict comes from four primary sources. First, what should be done? Second, how should it be done? Third, who should do it? And, finally, how shall we fund it?

Until we can deal with our country’s problems with a planning model in place we can,

unfortunately, expect to continue with the current state of conflict and the resultant gridlock. I’m sure at the beginning of this column you thought I had a solution to this problem. Sorry.

— Dr. Mark L. Hopkins writes for More Content Now and the Anderson Independent-Mail in South Carolina. He is past president of colleges and universities in four states. Books by Hopkins currently available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble include “Journey to Gettysburg” and “The Wounds of War,” both Civil War-era novels, and “The World As It Was When Jesus Came.” Contact him at presnet@presnet.net.

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